


One Pretty Face

by Altiria



Series: Whumptober 2020 [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Crack, F/M, Female Harry Potter, Fix-It, Impel Down, Rescue, Whumptober 2020, first words au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 07:40:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26848300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Altiria/pseuds/Altiria
Summary: For years, Ace had debated the meaning of that particular sentence. That sentence had been the one etched into the skin of his forearm at birth, and though he didn't know it, had caused his mother to burst out laughing when she'd first held him.
Relationships: Portgas D. Ace/Harry Potter
Series: Whumptober 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946422
Comments: 28
Kudos: 711





	One Pretty Face

Soft footsteps, possibly cloth shoes. The noise was different from what Ace was used to with the guards, causing him to open his eyes. Ace could make out little in the darkness of Impel Down even with his eyes adjusted, there was little to be seen unless the guards were present. The guards didn't think pirates deserved such simple things as 'light,' which was another blatant sign of how the government saw its people. Regardless, the darkness meant Ace was all the more curious because he could hear footsteps in the hallway, but the lights were still off. 

Ace scanned the halls outside his cell, looked past the bar for any sign of moments. Ace narrowed his eyes, wishing not for the first time he could pull at his flames. Without the sea-stone, he could have lit up the entire level - and escape, don't forget escape - to reveal who was watching him soundless in the dark. If it was anyone at all. He strained his ears, listening for the sound of shoes on stone, and something shifted to the left of his cell door. Ace shot his eyes that way and found himself staring into a pair of glowing green eyes near the floor. They were like a cat in the way they were slit and were the only thing visible in the darkness. Then, the eyes blinked one slowly and vanished. There was a sound Ace couldn't place, almost like the shift of a sail, like fabric.

A moment later, the area around his cell door burst into light. It was bright enough that Ace flinched back and slammed his eyes closed against it. He winced as it shot a severe pang in his head. Before eventually, he forced his eyes open and met green once more… but they were different. They were no longer slitted, and they were no longer sitting at the height of a small house-cat. Instead, they were in the face of a young woman holding a stick with a lit-up tip. 

Ace watched the woman tilt her head and scan him. Her eyes danced up and down, taking in the shackles across his body, the bruises littering his body, and the guards' blatant signs of abuse. Then… she smiled. It was a little blood-thirsty, a little fond, and a promised violence for someone that Ace was suddenly sure wasn't him. He assumed so mostly because her outfit and her presence told him she wasn't, in fact, a guard. Meanwhile, she was in Impel, somehow, illegally. Therefore, she was a potential ally. 

And then she spoke.

"Guess I'll have to break that pretty face of yours out of prison." 

Ace's wasn't ashamed to admit his heart jumped. No jumped was tame, Ace's heart nearly launched out of his chest. Instinctively at those words, Ace found himself leaning forward; the chains at his wrists, stomach, neck, and ankles pulled. They clanked together and stretched, stopping him long before he could get even remotely close to her, and it caused him to growl at the chains even as he stared. Ace stared because she'd actually said it. This unknown woman within Impel Down had actually said it… sure, Ace had been hoping ever since he'd been captured. Still, he hadn't actually imagined it would happen. Ace had been half-convinced by the second week within Impel down that it would be a guard set to say those words and destroy all his hopes. But… she wasn't. She'd actually come. 

So many years, Ace had debated the meaning of those words, of that particular sentence. That sentence had been the ones etched into the skin of his forearm at birth. Though he didn't know it, the ones caused his mother to burst out laughing when she'd first held him. The same words caused Garp to be just a little more worried during Ace's childhood and also caused his insistence of Ace becoming a Marine to become stronger. Those words also caused Luffy and Sabo to endlessly worry over Ace because surely that meant once he started his pirate career that he'd only end up in prison? 

After all, why else was his soulmate breaking him out of prison?

'Maybe she's a Marine, and you corrupt her?' Was Sabo's not so helpful thought. 

'Sabo is probably laughing himself silly in the afterlife about then.' Ace thought as his soulmates form shifted, and she lifted the stick higher in the air. She flicked it then, and Ace watched three small blue lights, similar to Marco's flame colour, spawn into being and float into the cell with him. They were dimmer than the light on the stick, and Ace was thankful for it when his soulmate suddenly extinguished that particular light. She then pointed it at his cell door and whispered something.

The door opened, and Ace watched her glance his way. Then at his lips with a particular expression- oh. Ace hadn't said anything in return. He hadn't said her words yet. She had no idea he was her soulmate- but what in the gods' name did he say? He could actually choose… this never happened. No one got to choose. The words just showed up… they were predestined, Ace would always say what he'd say here. The words he'd speak had been etched onto her arm from birth, and the pressure was intense. 

What had he said? Or will say? Or should say? 

Ace internally groaned and blurted the first thing to come to mind. "I'm Portgas D. Ace… your soulmate." 

Oh. 

She shot him an amused look at Ace would have face-planted if he could have. Those had to be the most straightforward words anyone had ever gotten in the history of the world. He'd blatantly told her his full name; she would have had that from birth, an awareness of who he was for her entire life. 

Well, at least he could say it was better than someone of the heavily insulting things the other Whitebeard Pirates had gotten. 

"Holly Lily Potter-" She stopped beside him and tapped the stick to his shackles. Each one fell open, and Ace felt his flames rush back in as she did it. "-Black-Peverell-Gaunt-Weasley… resident of Earth, a much different planet from your own, and one Portgas D. Ace's soulmate." Holly then leaned back and offered Ace a hand, which he eagerly took. She pulled him onto his feet and said: "surprisingly, there aren't many people with that particular name, even after travelling between worlds to find you." 

Worlds? What did she mean by that?

Ace kept his hand in hers when he watched her nose wrinkle suddenly and nearly tried to wrench it back in apology. Instead, his cheeks heated slightly despite it being something he couldn't help. The same Marines that didn't give them light certainly didn't provide them with a bathroom, shower, or substantial meals either. Ace was relatively sure he was rank. "Sorry, I... I'm probably... It's been a while since I could shower," Ace stuttered out nervously. He recalled Makino's every lesson on how to treat a woman. Everything he'd learned about them had been from Makino. However, the woman had snuck them in since Ace had only truly been interested in thanking Shanks for saving Luffy. 

"It's fine," Holly assured him as her eyes burned holes in the chains holding him. They were filthy now and coated in dried blood from his wounds; many had been pulled entirely too tight and had chaffed something fierce when he shifted. There was a reason Ace had brutal marks on his wrists and ankles now. Not to mention the shackle around his middle had kept him from breathing when he'd fallen asleep in the incorrect position, meaning doing anything but sitting perfectly upright. "But some of those look infected…" she eyed the reddened skin on the wrist closest to her, ironically giving her a good look at the words she'd etched across his skin. 

It caused her to blush, and Ace found himself tightening his grip on her hand. The subtle smile there transformed her entire visage, and that blush did funny things to his heart. Gods, he'd only just met her, and he was already gone. 

"I can heal them," Holly offered as she smothered the blush, "after we escape, though? The Marines likely already know we're here… maybe?" 

"There are no alarms, you've been subtle… hold on, we?" Had she come alone? From the wording, Ace assumed not. 

"My brothers." Holly explained with a fond smile, "they're searching the level for you, teamwork since this place is huge." They still hadn't let go of each other's hand, Ace didn't want to either. He was enjoying the feel of her skin, even if it was just a hand. Though he really wanted a bit more contact… it would have to wait until he had bathed, but… 

He wanted to taste her. 

Ace had been imprisoned for weeks, tortured for weeks, left in the dark without his flames for weeks. And now his soulmate was here. His other half, the one everyone looked for, longed for. The one who'd accept him, his blood, and his heritage without fail. The one who'd just freed him before his family could die in order to save him. 

And, Ace wanted to taste her. 

But it could wait. 

"Hey, Holly! Did you find him yet?!" 

Holly jerked a bit as a voice called from down the hallway. Shooting a sheepish look his way, she called: "He's over here!" 

"The right one!" 

"About time too, how many worlds has it been Forge?" 

"Oh, dozens." 

Two voices, nearly the same, but Ace could definitely make out two. He was proven correct, as a set of perfectly identical twins appeared from the right side of his cell. They looked alike in every way; their similarities went down to their very spirit as he sensed them with his haki. The only difference Ace could really find was the one on the left was a bit… quieter in energy than the other. But that was it. Ace knew twins could be similar, he'd even met several sets, but this was ridiculous. 

The two settled their eyes on him, and Ace noted something wild in their eyes. In the same way Holly's eyes seemed like a cat the first time he'd seen them; these two had a bit of a forest in them. "You're him then, Ace?"

"Not bad looking, eh, Holly? He's attractive, innit he?"

The other nodded along as Ace tried to follow their bouncing conversation, "Holly's been looking for her soul mate for years," 

"Our home country has some nonsense laws, and they tried to marry her off,"

"So the family packed up, all of us-" "which is a large amount, we have a big family, don't we Greg?" "-and we left that word,"

"We figured her soul mate had to be around somewhere, helpful that we had his name. So we travelled across different worlds."

"Been to a few, Asgard was nice,"

Holly shot him a look from the side; she looked long used to this act, and since she was his soulmate and these two were his family, he went with it. Ace was sure he'd get the pattern eventually. Haki certainly was already helping him.

"Elemental countries was cool, lots of ninja's,"

"I don't recommend any planet during the apocalypse though; zombies are not fun,"

"Then, we reached this one." 

"See we've got this spell to test if someone with the name of Portgas D. Ace exists, developed by our own Holly." Ace looked to Holly again, who nodded with a shrug. As she did, she mouthed that she'd explain a bit better and in more detail later, especially the parts going right over Ace's head. 

"But we didn't need it, since we got a paper announcing his execution,"

"We started off to 'Impel Down' right away,"

"No way we're letting our little sister's soul mate die, or anyone with his name."

"Not after all that!"

"She deserves love!" 

Holly heaved a put upon sigh as Ace felt his emotions do something funny again. She'd… she'd been looking for him for a while, more than he initially assumed. Then, Holly had also been lucky enough to have his name through… worlds? Had she really passed through worlds? Was that even possible? They were certainly acting like it was.

"Worlds?" he asked, utterly forgetting they should probably be escaping. 

"Ah," it was Holly's turn to blush now, "maybe let's escape first before I explain… because this will be a long conversation. Starting with… do you believe in… magic? Because that's sort of crucial… for our future." 

Ace blinked once, twice, then gestured to the chains left behind. "I've been to an island where rain falls upward, so… sure?" 

"Oh, good." The expression on her face was entirely mischievous and Ace… honestly felt a bit excited to see it; he couldn't wait to devour her- and then the twins to interrupt again. Ace was not the only one to shoot them a dark look for it.

"Hey Holly, if we're going to be pirates now. Can I have a hat?" 

"Oh, yes! I need a tricorn with a big feather!"

"And a parrot!" 

"And an eye-patch!" 

Holly reached for Ace's hand, "okay, that's enough now. Ace, picture… home, I guess, wherever that is for you, as clearly as possible. And… brace yourself, most people throw up the first time." 

What?

Ace opened his mouth to ask, and- the world twisted away. 


End file.
